Department of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy of Duke Hospital Earns Green Workplace Certification

The Department of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy of Duke University Hospitalrecently earned Duke Green Workplace Certification, bringing the campus total to 75 certified green workplaces. The Certification recognizes work areas that formally assess how they are reducing their environmental footprint.

PT/OT earned certification by completing 43 out of 58 checklist items for their 75 staff members. Staff are encouraged to bike, walk, take public transportation, and participate in carpooling to get to the hosptial. To help reject disposability in their office space, employees utilize reusable, BPA free, bottles instead of disposable plastic water bottles. To cultivate community around the initiative, sustainability champion Chiara Mecagni has set up communal bins to encourage sharing office supplies that can be reused.  The break room goes further to help reduce and reuse by providing staff with reusable mugs for coffee, tea, and water, as well as reusable silverware to avoid plastic disposable utensils. 

A unique initiative started at PT/OT is the Compostable Departmental Potlucks! This involves transporting the compoastable material after the event from the hospital using personal resources to composting sights on West Campus.  "This is meant to highlight the need for more access to sustainability initiatives at the hospital," Chiara noted. 

Duke's Office of Sustainability administers the Duke Green Workplace Certification, which begins when a representative from a work area attends the free "Leading for Environmental Sustainability" workshop. As part of the workshop, participants receive a checklist of sustainable practices ranging from double-sided printing to using eco-friendly dishwashing soap in a break room. A work area that can demonstrate it follows at least 40 of the checklist's 58 items can apply for certification and permission to post the Duke Green Workplace seal in its office and on materials.

View a complete list of certified offices and the actions they completed to earn certification.